Alemtuzumab, My Dear Watson

October 18, 2013 | Watson, the IBM supercomputer best known for its successful stint as a Jeopardy contestant, but also previously used for cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering, has a new gig as a clinical advisor at MD Anderson Cancer Center. IBM announced today that Watson will act as a resource in clinical trials for leukemia drugs, using medical records and a massive database of research literature to match patients with the most promising trials and courses of treatment. Oncologists at MD Anderson have been working with Watson on a tentative basis for about a year, using the supercomputer to quickly assemble all a patient's relevant data and drill into the literature, and testing the supercomputer's knowledge before the cancer center allows Watson to advise on the treatment of real patients. Forbes